


Steal Your Heart

by dal_segno



Category: NU'EST, PRISTIN (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Video Game World, Characters to be added, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Romance, Let Sakamoto Ryuji Say Fuck, M/M, Non-Graphic Violence, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Persona 5 Nu'est AU, Persona 5 Spoilers, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Swearing, Tags May Change, The romance aspect will come MUCH later im sorry, Worldbuilding, basically a retelling of persona 5, eventual angst, persona 5 - Freeform, this is very lengthy, video game based, you dont have to know much about the game tho
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-20
Updated: 2020-08-20
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:14:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25864168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dal_segno/pseuds/dal_segno
Summary: Minki could accept most of the things that have gone wrong recently. Those being: falsely accused of a crime he tried to stop, being on probation, having to move to the city, and being treated like a criminal by people around him.But an interesting event that has to deal with a castle, crown and talking cat leaves a deep impression on Minki to change the world in a way only he can. Teaming up with a bunch of other troubled high schoolers to break out of the system they can't live with or without, they change the hearts of evil adults-- for the better or for the worst.Oh, and Minki starts falling for the blond, foreign delinquent in the middle of heists but more on that later.
Relationships: Aaron Kwak | Aron/Choi Minki | Ren
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1
Collections: Nu'fics x The Parallel





	Steal Your Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! This is my submission for the Nu'Fics fest! Before anything, I wanna let yall know that you don't even need to know what happens in the game Persona 5 because this will be literally be most of the game in fic form and in gay form! So yeah just enjoy my writing or whatever lol <3

**_4/11 Monday, Daytime_ **

**_Rainfall_ **

…? It started raining. Damn it; I didn’t even bring an umbrella with me. School’s pretty far from here too so I can’t walk all the way there. I doubt Wonwoo would bring me an umbrella anyways. Guess I’ll have to stay under this shop at least until the rain lessens.

How often do you encounter a guy with fluffy pink hair and toned arms? That’s… not the point. Said person appeared next to me in the shop. Maybe he needed a place to duck under because of the rain too. But why wouldn't he look at me? Hell, his shoulders are way too stiff too.

Right that moment, a square-chinned man in a car pulled up in front of us. He gestured to the pink-haired guy before looking at me. Asked me if I wanted a ride too. Shaking my head, I refused. I don’t even know who the hell he is, even if he looked familiar to that boy. I… shouldn’t get involved. 

After all, the same shit would happen to me if I did anything to intervene. It doesn’t matter if that guy looked uncomfortable. It could have been my imagination; perhaps that guy and the driver knew each other. I don’t want to get put in juvie again for doing what I thought was right.

Minki, there’s no use beating yourself up over what you did before.

At least I didn't have too much time to dwell on the past. Some other guy with bright blond hair ran by me. He clutched his chest and heaved once he stopped in his tracks. A bunch of curse words poured out of his mouth as he talked to himself. A name caught my ears amidst the swearing so I wondered what kind of arguments this guy and "K" had before to anger him.

I shrugged as he kept talking, it’s not like I knew what he was talking about anyway.

Taking a look at him, I realised he had a pretty sharp jawline and features that likely meant he’s a foreigner.

I gave him a confused look which he returned with bug-like eyes and a small jump off the ground. He coughed into his elbow. 

“For real?” Blondie scrutinised me up and down as he talked. His ears slowly turned red too. “Everyone at Pledis Academy knows that pervert. Don’t you go there too? No other school has a uniform like that.”

Ah, so he was a foreigner; the accent kind of jumped out. It was cute hearing the slang in his voice, I guess. And I failed to notice that both of us were wearing the same black and red checkered pants. He took another look at me-- this time without the bug eyes-- before asking if I was new. I nodded and he took it as his cue to continue rambling on and on.

According to him, this K guy’s a pervert and a “false king” according to blondie. “Thinks he rules the school,” he said. He didn’t even bother introducing himself before saying all that. I let him talk-- besides, I wasn’t keen on talking that much.

What the…? Ugh, my head hurt so much. Guess blondie felt the same way. That was terrible. It was like an invisible wave washed over me: except it was scalding hot instead of cool.

“That hurt,” the Pledis student mumbled as he cradled his head. “Transfer kid, you alright?” I nodded again. Why did he sound so concerned about a stranger he recently met?

He shook his head once more as if to get rid of the headache. Or something else. Smiling widely again, he took my hand to pull me off the wet pavement. 

“Well then, the rain stopped so we should get to school. Follow me.”

Something wasn’t right. I couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was out of the ordinary. Maybe I was hallucinating. I mean, it wasn’t that far off from the truth in the end.

How else could I explain a medieval castle right where that Pledis student said the school would be?

-

“What the hell? Did we take a wrong turn? The school’s supposed to be here!”

Well, the sign outside the place did say “Pledis Academy Est. XXXX” so I suppose we were at school. Just… not the school I went to yesterday with Wonwoo. The school wouldn't have gone through such a renovation in a day. Plus, it seemed quite unnecessary with all the statues and carpets.

Blondie kept pacing and muttering about how this isn’t the real school-- yeah jackass what else does it seem like? The school suddenly decided to become a movie set? I forced myself to shut up before any words I didn't mean came out. I mean, I wouldn’t want to be left alone here; especially when I know nothing about… whatever this place was.

As I was thinking of making a run for it, two personnels came up to us wearing giant suits of armor. Blondie ruffled his coloured hair as he joked, asking if they were students in cosplay.

I doubted they were students at all. No normal student I’ve ever seen has had a long-ass sword and a big-ass shield. Unless this school was full of madmen cosplaying all the time, then I was definitely missing out. Again, I kept the remarks to myself.

Unfortunately for us, we blacked out before we could run away. I speculated they hit us with those huge swords of theirs. I wouldn’t know for sure; I was busy trying to get stars out of my eyes before I passed out completely.

I woke up a moment later on a bench with an immense headache because of that blond-haired guy. Our eyes met once I was conscious. For a second, his features tensed before they relaxed when we started talking. Gradual and awkward at first, but the conversation eased soon after.

“Where are we?” I asked once he checked me all over for any injuries to be sure.

“Some kinda dungeon.” He kicked the stone ground with little force. “Think we’re in some freak show?”

Though his suggestion seemed weird, I checked any crevices for hidden cameras. I reasoned that this must be some filming set for shows but even I couldn't convince myself of this. Giving up, I cracked a joke as I reported my observings. The other half of me wasn’t ready to cope with the fact that we don’t know where we were.

The street mouth cursed in another language before running to the cell gate to scream for help. Like that’ll help. While he went about doing that, I fished my phone out of my school blazer's pocket. I wanted to call Wonwoo to tell him what predicament I've gotten myself into this time. Moments passed before I realised that there wasn't any signal (or Wi-Fi) wherever we were.

Plus, my phone was acting up. I stopped trying to call Wonwoo or Leblanc's public phone from then on. As I was debating whether I should save up for a new phone or not, a scream pierced the otherwise silent air.

At that moment, I was starting to fear what those chains on the wall were for. Blondie took several steps back from the cell's iron bars, almost making me fall over when he bumped into me.

“Th-The hell” he stuttered as we made our way to the front of the cell, “was that right now?”

Wherever we ended up didn't have modern lighting so it took a while for my eyes to take in our surroundings. Torches and oil lamps lined the stone walls. Cells like ours were parallel to each other on our side and the one in front of us. I squinted to try to see more but my focus broke when more screams filled our ears.

“Whoa, whoa,” blondie muttered in disbelief. “You’re shittin’ me right?”

I wanted to focus my attention on something other than blood-curdling screams. I examined every nook and cranny of our little cell to do that. The wine barrels by the gate were full of dust while the chains lining the walls only gleamed. No secret passageways either.

“Did you hear that?”

Sure enough, the guards from earlier-- bulky armor and all-- came up to our cell bearing news. Speaking in a distorted voice, one guard charged us with “unlawful entry”. So our punishment for such was death.

“Say what?!” Blondie and I screamed in unison.

Then, a familiar voice entered the vicinity. It triggered a memory of mine, one that I couldn’t quite recall. When did I hear that voice?

“No one’s allowed to do as they please in my castle,” a gruff (also distorted) voice threatened. Curious if I sounded like that, I tested my voice . It didn’t seem like that.

“Huh? Wait… Is that you K?” Blondie stammered with wide eyes as he gripped the cell bars harder.

If that was K, the pervert teacher foul-mouth ranted about, I wondered why any school would hire a man like that. He had a red robe with hearts akin to the kind of robes that those characters in Harry Potter would wear. The only differences were that it seemed fluffy, was only up to his knees and didn’t look practical. On top of K’s head laid a cartoonishly large crown.

Wait… was he the same person who offered me a ride earlier? The square chin did look familiar.

“I didn't think you had the balls to come here, Kwak.” K's mouth curved into a dark smirk.

Kwak, as I learned, looked defiant and ready to punch that asshole in the face. But, there were bars in the way and he didn’t seem to want to risk anything yet. I definitely doubted his ability to shut up when the situation called for it.

“Are you trying to disobey me again?” K piped up again, this time with a thin veil of mockery on his words. Blondie gritted his teeth. “You haven’t learned at all. Once a troublemaker, always a troublemaker.”

Seemed to me that these two had a history shrouded in negative experiences. It only made me more curious about how K affected Kwak that much. But it wasn’t like I could have deciphered that by their exchange. I huffed.

Yet K wasn’t going to stop riling up my acquaintance yet. He sneered at Kwak and mocked him for “bringing” me along as he “couldn’t do anything by himself”. An asshole move if you ask me. Like, what was his problem with Kwak?

Any hope of Kwak holding his mouth evaporated after K said that.

“This ain’t funny you dickhead!”

That wretched haughty look on the king’s face slipped off like he got stabbed right in the heart. His yellow irises had an eerie glow in the dim light of the dungeon. 

“You dare insult me, the king, in my own palace? Then there is no other punishment for thieves like you than to die.” And with the raise of his arm, K ordered the guards to dispose of us immediately.

  
  


My legs trembled and my knees threatened to buckle and drag my entire body to the floor. Fear crept up from my numbed legs to my freezing hands. Even when confronted with the possibility I could die here, I wished I didn't see K's pink thong under his robe. It was, unfortunately, the only thing he had under there. 

I looked at Kwak and wondered why the cogs in his head were turning. If he was thinking of moving, it's not like we could anyway. Going anywhere would speed up the inevitable seeing as we had nowhere to run. Still, he grabbed my wrist to run with him to the back of our tiny cell.

Just our luck: the guards cornered blondie so I had no other choice except to stand like an idiot behind them.

What could I even do?

I resurfaced from my thoughts when a deafening crash sounded in my ears. Kwak had charged into a guard, causing it to fall down, armor and all.

“What’re you standing there for, four-eyes? We gotta run the fuck outta here!”

As I could feel the blood starting to flow into my legs once again, a guard rammed its shield onto Kwak. He crumpled to the ground where he moaned in agony while clutching his arms.

"Stop it!" I shouted with the most courage I could muster. Those bastards couldn't even spare me a mere glance.

Desperately trying to pull the guards off of him resulted in nothing. Even fucking around with their armor didn't even faze them one bit. I was at a loss for what to do to help and Kwak screaming at me to get away like a fucking banshee didn't help much either. Like I could ever leave anyone alone in a dangerous situation. If I left, I'm sure his death would haunt me for as long as I live. 

Instead, I wondered about what I could do to get both of us out of this hell ruled by this prick in a pink fucking thong.

Except, K left my options very limited.

“What a coward,” the king taunted me, “Running away and leaving your friend behind.”

“He’s not a friend!” I must admit that Kwak’s words stung, but not in a way I could ever describe. My expression hardened as he shouted those words.

K turned away from me and his crazed eyes zeroed in on my friend. He held a fist high before slamming it right on Kwak's cheek. With every blow he made, his amber eyes glowed brighter like a flame.

Kwak's groans of pain grew quieter as he got beaten; as if he'd accepted his fate at the monster's hands already. Being a bystander did nothing to ease his suffering. I was too powerless to even help. Anger swelled inside of me, sending a rush of heat to my face, but I couldn't give a fuck. Why couldn't I do anything to fuck that bitch up?

Why was I so scared to do anything?

Centuries passed until K stopped beating Kwak and when he did, he pushed him onto the stone floor again. Poor guy even got spit on. His arms could barely hold himself from collapsing altogether.

"Aw,” K spoke in a sickening sweet voice, “Where’d your energy go, my dearest student?”

Kwak bit his chapped lips. I'm almost certain he swore under his breath if it wasn't for the loud drumming of my heart.

But soon, that fear turned into anger when K ordered for his execution.

There was no fucking way I was going to let that happen. Red covered my vision.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?!” I couldn’t stop my words from coming out anymore.

K halted the soldiers with the flick of his hand. As he turned to me, his eyes twitched. I stared back into those irritating eyes of his, challenging him to do something to me.

I couldn’t bear to see Kwak killed for no fucking reason.

“You’re pretty brave for a mutt.” K’s face appeared right in front of mine in a second. The look in his eyes weighed me down. “That look in your eyes irritates me!”

Before I had the chance to even reply, he kicked me in the stomach. My glasses and I flew across the room and my back came in contact with the cell's walls. Luckily for me, my spine didn’t shatter despite the heavy force. For not so lucky blondie, K resumed his execution, saying that he’ll get rid of me after Kwak.

I lunged after K just for the guards to slam me back into the wall, pinning my shoulders in the process. Was my fate to die at the hands of this man? Whatever fate had in store for me, I had already accepted it. Be it death or punishment, I acknowledged it all in that very moment.

“This is truly an unjust game.” Spoke a very soft voice, so soft that I nearly wouldn’t have heard it over my breathing.

I looked around in panic. There was no one. No one who could’ve said that around me for it was a feminine voice. And none of these jerks had a voice like that.

I listened a bit more.

“Your chances of winning are almost none.”

Who was this…?

There was a pause before the voice whispered once more. “But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you…”

And as it said these words, a blue butterfly appeared in front of me. Fragile and beautiful. I wondered if such a thing spoke these words to me.

And as quickly as it came, it vanished.

Its presence was then replaced by a deep voice that reverberated deep in my soul. I couldn’t see anything that the voice could’ve come from, unlike the butterfly from before.

“What’s the matter? Are you simply going to watch?”

Yeah, I was definitely going crazy.

The voice continued. “Are you forsaking him to save yourself?”

No. I… couldn’t do anything. If I had some power, I’d go help him. Break free and go save him. But I couldn’t. All I could do is stare and wait for his demise.

“Death awaits him if you do nothing.” No shit, Sherlock.

So what exactly do you want me to do?

It didn’t respond with a clear-cut answer. Instead, it asked me to remember if my previous choice was a mistake. I knew instantly it wasn’t. Stepping in to help a woman from getting assaulted by that disgusting man wasn't a mistake. Even if I was treated like a criminal for it. Even if I was put on probation for it.

Doing the right thing never will be a mistake.

In front of me, Kwak was lifted from the ground by the collar. I feared that I was too late. But I knew otherwise. I wouldn’t let him die. Not when I could finally do something about it.

“Very well, I will heed your resolve,” the voice replied, pleased with my answer. You could almost hear the smirk in its voice.

Just then, a scalding sensation overloaded my head, making me unable to stay still. In a few seconds, the pain shot down to the rest of my body, almost making me fall had I not been pinned in place by the guards. I hadn’t expected this at all. A scorching heat and a freezing chill ravaged my body all throughout.

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like the voice had no empathy for what I was going through and kept talking. Bullets of sweat dripped down my face as I tried to dispel the pain to no avail.

“Vow to me.” The voice commanded. Having no answer yet, I gritted my teeth in anticipation. I had the feeling that it wasn’t going to stop yet.

“I am thou, thou art I.” It went on to say. I found myself mouthing the same words to myself. At this point, the pain had gotten too much to bear; screams escaped my mouth.

“Thou who art willing to perform all sacrilegious acts for thine own justice!”

Instead of the fire that surged through my body earlier, a new feeling of power flowed into me. Still, I was physically exhausted but the power enticed me to gain strength. The voice’s presence grew more powerful each passing moment. Until at last…

“Call upon my name and release thy rage! Show the strength of thy will to ascertain all thine own, though thou be chained to Hell itself!”

I could vaguely hear that false king order for blondie’s execution before I could even hear my own thoughts. That fucking ridicule in his voice made my anger burn even more. My newfound friend wouldn’t die here that's for sure.

“That’s enough!” I clenched my fists so hard that my nails were digging into the flesh. But I didn't care. 

My words were enough for him to let go of Kwak. He crumbled to the ground as he held his neck behind K.

Then, as suddenly as it came, the pain stopped. I almost didn’t have any more strength to stand up upright if it wasn’t for the remaining bit of power from the voice. My head hung low. K continued to mock me, calling me a coward and whatnot. This time, however, I knew it’d end differently.

When I finally forced my head to lift itself up, an unusual weight rested around my eyes. My fingers prodded on its surface before I realised that it was a mask. Feeling the need to take it off, I tugged at it before completely ripping it off my face. Drops of crimson blood splattered all over the place.

A haze manifested over my recollection of what happened after I ripped off my mask. I could only remember blue fire engulfing me, the chime of chains against stone and Kwak’s eyes. Galaxies of fear and ambivalence swirled within his hazel eyes. Perhaps that was why I couldn’t remember shit. Was I too fixated on the wrong thing at the wrong time?

Arséne-- the name of the voice as I’ve come to learn-- broke me out of my trance. “I am the rebel’s soul that resides within your heart’s abyss,” it bellowed.

I looked behind me to see a creature I could only ever imagine in my nightmares. Stifling my shock proved to be harder than I thought. Sapphire flames burned around its massive charcoal feather wings. Arsene wore a white ruffle tie, a black corset, and had red coverings on its legs looking like pants. Boots with blade-like heels covered its legs.

Yet, the real shocker (at least to me) was its devilish mask. Imagine a black pumpkin that had carvings of your endless thoughts at three in the morning. Now imagine that pumpkin had very red fire inside of it outlining its carvings from the inside. Yeah. Oh, and add massive horns extending from the mask in the same hue.

“Do you desire the power to break free of this crisis?” Arsene asked once I somewhat recovered from the shock. I gave a nod of affirmation.

Meanwhile, K had unleashed his guards to fight me. Once bulky and of silver armor, they dissolved into a black and red puddle before becoming two new creatures. Their pumpkin heads glowed a bright orange along with their small lanterns. These were the kinds of decorations you could see during Halloween.

In no time, I defeated them with the newfound power lent to me. And a slash of a silver dagger I found in my knife holster. Not long after I defeated the pumpkins, small turquoise orbs appeared beneath my feet. They disappeared within a second.

“What,” Kwak mumbled with a trembling voice, “What was that just now?” His eyes darted everywhere as if our surroundings would answer him.

Though I was eager to give a reply to him, I couldn’t answer that question either. Arsene’s powers only left me with more questions than I started with. For instance, why the fuck was I in a black tailcoat like Arsene’s with an uncomfortable, black waistcoat and pants?

It’s not like I didn’t like the wardrobe change-- I loved it in fact-- but I wondered what was the need for it in a place like this. Especially the red leather gloves and mask. In truth I had expected them to be uncomfortable and out of place. Yet, they felt like they were always a part of me, if that made sense.

Well whatever. As long as I could kick ass while looking good I didn't particularly mind. 

As if he knew exactly what I was thinking about, Kwak punched K in the gut when he looked like he wanted to escape us.

"You like that, you son of a bitch?!" Kwak shouted with a proud smirk of his face.

I've definitely grown a liking to him now.

Shit. Minki, focus.

Brushing off the thoughts that floated to the front of my head, I swooped low to snatch the large keyring K dropped. With a nod at Kwak, we ran to the cell gate to lock that motherfucker up.

“It’s locked,” blondie affirmed with an easy-going smile. I smiled at him too, although I’m not sure he saw it at all.

The feeling of seeing that bastard locked up and banging on the iron bars was all too satisfying to not laugh at. Mere moments ago we’d been in his place. Oh how the tables have turned.

Serves him right. But it's unlikely he'd stay there forever, though. So the only thing we could do for now was make a run for it.

I grabbed Kwak’s hand and ran as far as possible from the cell with a cheeky grin painted on my face. I’ve no clue for how long we ran but I guess it was enough for our lungs and legs to feel like we set them into flames. When we stopped, we looked at each other before bursting into fits of laughter.

I wish I could’ve captured that smile on his face in that instant. For a guy who went through a near-death experience, he looked so happy amidst it all.

“Dude, that was wild!” He exclaimed while he ran a hand through that messy, blond hair of his. “Like you had this demon and cool outfit! Your mask looks great too. Y’know, bird masks look mysterious and all.”

My school uniform returned when he said those words. I glared at him and his eyes turned into two saucers. He apologised over and over in a whisper. I rolled my eyes as I pushed the glasses I thought got left behind in the cell up my nose. They weren't actually for seeing; I wouldn't have cared if I lost it anyway.

Besides, we had more pressing matters on our hands. Any more time wasted getting sidetracked wasn't good.

"I can hear the guards," I mumbled to blondie as I dragged us to hide behind some wooden crates. "Could you keep guard? I'll try to see where we can go." His head bobbed up and down.

The sooner we get the fuck out of here, the better.

I squinted my eyes to see a staircase near some foliage in the distance. There wasn't any other place that we could go to that didn't seem like a dead end-- all the corridors seemed to lead to nowhere.

As I nudged Kwak on the shoulder, I calculated how quick we could run to get there fast enough. His chiseled face turned towards me and he raised a thick brow.

"Found something?"

"Yeah. On the count of three, we run like hell for the stairs."

"Alright. Piece of cake." 

Three, my heart rammed against my ribcage. Two, my ring finger went down. One.

We made a beeline for the stairs as soon as I pulled my pinky finger down. Dull thuds from our shoes echoed around us. Our destination wasn’t too far off from the crates we hid behind but we could’ve been caught if we were too slow. I wouldn’t want to know what the fuck would happen to us if the guards caught up to us a second time.

My heart sunk into the depths of my stomach when we stood at the bottom of the staircase that seemed to spiral into infinity. A glance at it made my knees hurt, what more if I actually went up that thing?

Kwak sighed beside me. "This thing's huge. Where do you think it'll even go?" I shrugged, not knowing the answer for that.

Since my brain shut down that very moment, I failed to notice that two of K's minions were patrolling near us. If it wasn't for street-mouth smacking his hand (which smelled fruity but who asked?) on top of my mouth, I'm sure we would've been meat.

"Let's just go up this stupid staircase," Kwak said with a grimace on his face. "Not like we have any other options, right?" 

-

Never in my life did I hate stairs so much. The staircase kept turning and spiraling into itself for what was like an eternity. My heels were burning and sore by the time we reached the top.

I guess Kwak didn't like it either; he kept rubbing his left knee and hip all the way. His lips pressed together and his eyes squinted in discomfort.

“Did you hurt your knee while running?” I asked as I tried to catch my breath. Perhaps the pain of running up one too many flights of stairs pained him to the point of being unable to answer me. His expression changed once more as he waved me off. A grunt escaped his cracked, bleeding lips.

I helped him get on his feet before gesturing that he had blood on his mouth and ought to wipe it off. Turning away from him, I pushed the hefty wooden door in front of us.

Yet another hallway greeted us instead of an exit we had hoped for. A sparkling waterfall and river illuminated the dreary place. The same lanterns from our cell lined the walls too.

Rolling my eyes, I helped him get on his feet again and pushed open the heavy wooden door in front of us.

Another long hallway greeted us instead of the exit we thought the door would lead us to.

“So the screaming we heard earlier was from those guys?” Kwak’s voice boomed amidst the eerie silence. My eyes looked over to where he was pointing to see people in large bird cages above the river next to us.

“I… guess so?” I muttered back. All this was getting too weird. Discomfort swirled in my empty stomach.

“So we ain’t the only ones who got captured here…? Damn, what kinda place is this?”

I kept quiet as we walked past a bunch of cellars. They were all like ours-- except they had no prisoners in them. Bones littered the floor of some while moss grew around the bars of others. If there was any blood, I was glad the lack of lighting prevented me from seeing shit. There’d probably be no chance I wouldn’t be able to keep the puke from spilling out.

Kwak touched my shoulder, bringing me back to our current situation. Smiling back at him, I asked if he found something. Like an overexcited puppy, he nodded enthusiastically. He then turned my attention to a folded bridge across where we stood.

“Can we lower it somehow?” I asked as he fiddled with a bust of K, pressing anything that seemed like it'd do something. Shaking his head, he said he couldn’t find anything.

“We’re screwed aren’t we?” He whined.

“Bingo.”

Still hopeful we’d find something to help us, I kept walking until I met a dead end. Kwak cursed behind me. How were we going to get out of this shithole?

“Hey you there!” came a high-pitched voice nearby. “Blondie! Frizzy hair! Over here!”

Both our heads turned together to the sound at the same time. While I expected another demon or something, I didn’t expect it to be a cat? A very big cat? In a cellar? What the fuck?

Was there anything in Wonwoo’s bread rolls that made me hallucinate this much?

Blondie jumped like three feet off the ground when he saw it. “What the hell is that thing?!” If I knew, I would’ve told you, dumbass.

But… was it a cat? While the ears looked like a cat's (despite being cartoonishly large), the rest of whatever it was didn’t look like a cat's features. It was definitely too small to be a cosplayer or whatever they’re called.

The creature had a huge circular head on top of its ridiculously small body. Its fur was an ashy tone, except on a part of its limbs and tail which were black instead. What seemed like a gray mask covered half of its bobble head. Plus, it's fashion was to be side-eyed. As in, a singular blue scarf was wrapped around its neck.

“You’re not soldiers right?” It hurriedly spoke as its bright blue oval eyes scrutinised the space behind us. “Get me out of here. Please! The keys are to your right!” Waving its paw in that direction, my eyes fell upon a set of keys on a hook.

Blondie huffed unamused next to me. “Seriously? We’re trying to get outta here too. Besides, you look like an enemy too!” Rolling my eyes, I mumbled a quiet warning his way.

“I’m locked up here, so how can I be your enemy?! Help me out!”

Though I was one for rather unconventional things, this cat-- or whatever it was-- was frying my brain. Whatever, might as well try to reason with it.

I rubbed my temples as I talked. “Quiet down, you cat.”

“I’m not a cat! Say that again and I’ll break your kneecaps.”

Feisty.

The clang of all-too-familiar armor rang somewhere near us mid-conversation. The guards already caught up to us…? So soon? Fuck.

Unfortunately, the monster cat took this as an opportunity to try to get us to free it. Bargaining if you will. I mean, anything was better than getting caught and then executed by that fucker in a thong. I figured that we might as well give this cat a shot at freedom.

“Fine,” I found myself agreeing to its terms, “We’ll get you out and you’ll help us get out of this place. Deal?”

“Quick to decide; I like that! Now will you just get me out of here?!”

Well what other choice did we have?

-

“Freedom at last,” the cat-like creature drawled after we let it out of its chamber.

It looked so happy I didn’t want to say anything and I really wanted to pet it. But of course Kwak wasn’t having any of that.

“Alright you weird cat. Where’s the exit?” He said while wearing a slight scowl on his face.

“I’m not a cat! My name’s Lucky!”

It’s about time I knew this cat’s name. So that I could dig her grave and put her name on its gravestone.

“Alright, Lucky. Now do you wanna get put back in your cage or what.”

Make that two graves and gravestones.

“Will you two shut up? I don’t want to die here because of your bickering after getting this far.”

Lucky rolled her eyes and motioned for us to follow her. “Sheesh. Follow me.”

We retraced our steps to the drawbridge with K's bust. Lucky told me to pull down the statue's jaw and to our amazement, the bridge unfolded, revealing a path across. Kwak's jaw stayed unhinged until I gently pushed it back up. 

“Woah,” blondie exclaimed, “We checked that statue all over when we could’ve just pulled that motherfucker's jaw?!”

I definitely wasn’t going to listen to these two argue again. Plus, I had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last of their squabbles. Slapping my hand onto blondie’s loud mouth really did the trick, though.

As we ran, we found ourselves in front of a guard, which Lucky and I took down quickly with whatever power we had. Oh, and Kwak stood (well, fell down and remained on the floor would be a better description) behind us.

If anything, I didn’t think Lucky had that weird power I had too. It went by the name Zorro. It had a puffed out torso and arms like an overinflated balloon with needles for legs and pointy boots. Where the head should’ve been was a hat with bright yellow eyes. It held a thin sword and stood behind us in the same blue flames as Arsene.

Just what were these beings?

“Not bad,” Lucky commented once our battle was over, “Your persona’s pretty good.”

“Persona…?” Kwak and I repeated.

He ran a hand through his blond hair trying to make sense of Lucky’s words. “Y’mean that thing that you guys fought with?”

Stowing her sword, which was definitely too large for a small creature like her, she went on to explain. “Yes. I’m assuming four-eyes here tore off his mask when he summoned his, did he not?”

We both nodded.

“Well, everyone wears a mask deep inside their heart. By removing that…”

“Ugh, my head’s startin’ to spin with all this bullshit. Uh, can’t we just get back?”

“Can’t you just listen to me, blondie?!” Lucky cried out in exasperation.

“Don’t call me blondie, you cat! My name’s Aron!”

Finally: now I actually knew this idiot’s name. About time, I must say. Aron bounced his left leg up and down on the pavement. I placed a hand on his shoulder.

Deciding that she didn’t have time to deal with anymore arguments, Lucky forced us to follow her to the exit. But since we asked for her help, I guess it wasn’t really something she forced us to do. Either way, freedom was so close…!

-

Moments later, we ended up in a small room with a bunch of wooden crates and dying torches. Nothing around us looked like an exit. Especially with the only door barricaded with tons of junk stacked against it. One item moved from the stack and I’m sure we would’ve been swarmed.

Glancing around wouldn't give you much information either. Nothing else stood out in the dark room. Lucky stood there with a cheeky smile on her face; as if she had something to hide from us.

“Can’t find the exit?” She asked after a minute of us failing to find the exit. Her bobble head slightly shook as she giggled.

“...Yeah,” Aron admitted with a heavy sigh.

“Amateurs.”

Lucky jumped onto the crates. She babbled that the “basics of basics” is to never only look at doors but at potential air vents and whatnot. She removed the metallic mesh off the vent. We peered into the space.

“Huh,” Aron muttered half-heartedly, “Guess we can finally get outta here.”

“Would you prefer staying here?” I joked, then added (to spite him a bit more), “I mean I could totally leave you here if you want...?”

Aron slapped me on the shoulder while I grinned from ear to ear. It was so fun annoying this annoying piece of shit back.

“Cut it out,” he murmured a bit flustered. “Come on, let’s go.” He scaled the crates and once there, he extended an arm to help me up. I bit my tongue back from saying something annoying; I had the feeling he’d drop me onto the ground if I did.

As I stuck my leg into the vent, I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen to Lucky, seeing as she wouldn’t come with us. 

“Aren’t you gonna come with us, Lucky?” I asked, only for her to wave my concern off.

Adjusting the gold-buttoned utility belt on her waist, she told us she had some business to take care of. Something about the K’s palace she said.

Aron scratched his neck in confusion. “What’s with the palace-- are you trying to take down K all by yourself or something?” He bounced his left leg in a staccato rhythm.

“Something like that. Don’t tell me you’re worried for little old me~”

“Don’t get so full of yourself, you cat,” Aron hissed back.

“Shut up!”

Not a single word slipped out from my mouth to contribute to their exchange. I kicked the blond’s right leg into the shaft to which he immediately shifted his attention to. A cheeky smile stuck itself on my face. He threw a dirty look at me before he gave up to crawl into the vent.

“Lucky,” I called out as my face disappeared into the vent, “Thanks.”

“No problem. Just never come back here, got it?”

-

Turns out we were over two hours late on the first day of the semester. After failing to explain to the cops why we were out of class, we got an earful from a counselor and a teacher at the school gates. That teacher was K. Huh.

And, the school looked exactly like the one that Wonwoo and I went to yesterday; not the one that Aron and I ended up in. Yeah, definitely not a castle even if I pinched my arm thrice.

“You’re slacking off on the first day of the semester already, Kwak? You too, transfer student?” K said as if that was what we were doing in the first place. “Totally different from when you were on the swimming team I must say.”

I suddenly wished I had that persona of mine to kick his ass for real.

“Shut up,” Aron shouted with anger in every syllable, “It's all your fault that I'm not on the team anymore!”

The counselor intervened between the two. “Mr. Aron Kwak, that’s no way you should be talking to a teacher!”

“He’s the one who freaking provoked me!”

“Aron please,” I mumbled just loud enough so he could hear it, “Let’s try not to get expelled.”

He grumbled but took a deep breath.

“Either way, you’ll have to answer me, Kwak.”

“This is bullshit!”

Attempting to look amicable, K redirected the argument by offering that it would be better if both of them took the blame instead of just Aron. Yet anyone could see the hollowness, insincerity, the sham behind those words.

“Still, you two were very late so you’ll have to talk it out with the counselor,” K said.

Neither of us objected. The most Aron did was huff but that went unnoticed.

The fighting spirit disappeared off of him as soon as he walked up the stone staircase. But, he glared at K one last time before going off to follow the counselor.

I, on the other hand, was left alone with K.

“...Have we met before, Mr. Choi?”

It surprised me that he had remembered our short encounter. Although, I wasn’t sure if he meant our encounter at the castle or the one when he picked up that pink-haired guy before I met Aron.

I went with the latter.

“I saw a guy with pink hair in your car.”

Silence. Then he spoke again, hesitation thickly coating his gruff voice.

“Right. I remember now. Well, I’ll overlook your tardiness for today, Choi.”

“Thank you,” I replied. Bowing my head, I hope he didn’t see the grimace on my face.

“But I must warn you,” he continued with a much sterner expression, “Any trouble you cause will get you expelled. Got it?”

Biting my snarky comments down, I bowed again and mumbled my understanding politely. I excused myself to make my way to the faculty office where K told me Ms. Yaebin, my class teacher, would be.

If I had seen anyone more displeased to see me, it was definitely her.

**Author's Note:**

> -im referring to "K" as such bc it's the first letter of the character (kamoshida as he is known in the game) and i didnt want to put the original name or make a new one
> 
> -persona 5 was originally set in japan but since it's my fic the fic is set in neither japan nor korea and doesnt have formalities and such.
> 
> -the plot will follow the main plot of the original p5 game (not royal) but ill change stuff on the way mwah


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